Electronic apparatus and method of operating electronic apparatus through touch sensor

ABSTRACT

An electronic apparatus has a touch sensor provided with a first touching zone including at least a second touching zone and a third touching zone, the second and third touching zones being allocated with different functions. The electronic apparatus is controlled to perform a specific function assigned to a specific touching zone that is the second or the third touching zone when there is a first touch input at first through the specific touching zone and continuously perform the specific function even if there is a second touch input that follows the first touch input, through either the second or the third touching zone that is not the specific touching zone, as long as there is a continuous touch input through the first touching zone from the first to the second touch input with no intermission.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based on and claims the benefit of priority from theprior Japanese Patent Application No. 2009-006455 filed on Jan. 15,2009, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an electronic apparatus equipped with atouch sensor and a method of operating an electronic apparatus through atouch sensor.

One type of electronic apparatus widely spread is an electronicapparatus that is operated through a touch sensor.

An advantage of an electronic apparatus equipped with a touch sensor ora method of operating an electronic apparatus through a touch sensor isthat several functions can be allocated to several zones of the sensingarea of the touch sensor.

Nevertheless, a touch sensor could cause misoperation of such anelectronic apparatus due to user's unintentional touch of an undesiredzone of the sensing area of the touch sensor.

One method of preventing such misoperation of an electronic apparatusthrough a touch sensor is disclosed in Japanese Un-examined PatentPublication No. 11 (1999)-175212. Provided on a touch panel are a firstzone for selecting a button and a second zone larger than the first zoneand provided as surrounding the first zone. Both zones are provided foreach button on the touch panel. Once a user touches the first zone, thebutton selected through this first zone is continuously selected as longas the user's finger is located within the second zone.

The misoperation prevention method described above is, however,disadvantageous in use of an imaging apparatus equipped with atouch-panel sensor, particularly, when a user operates the imagingapparatus while he or she is watching a target object or an image of thetarget on a monitor screen without watching the touch-panel sensor. Itcould happen that the user unintentionally shifts his or her finger froma touched zone to another undesired zone on the touch-panel sensor (fromthe first zone to another zone beyond the second zone in themisoperation prevention method described above) while touching thetouch-panel sensor to operate the imaging apparatus. Such anunintentional finger shift causes un-intentional operation ormisoperation of the imaging apparatus.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A purpose of the present invention is to provide an electronic apparatusequipped with a touch sensor and a method of operating an electronicapparatus through a touch sensor, preventing misoperation of theelectronic apparatus even if a user unintentionally shifts his or herfinger from a touched zone to another zone on a touch panel of the touchsensor while he or she is intentionally touching the former zone tooperate the electronic apparatus.

The present invention provides an electronic apparatus comprising: atouch sensor provided with a first touching zone that includes at leasta second touching zone and a third touching zone, the second and thirdtouching zones being allocated with different functions; at least onefunctional component to perform a specific function assigned to aspecific touching zone that is the second or the third touching zone; acontroller to receive a touch input through the first touching zone andcontrol the functional component so that the functional componentperforms the specific function when there is a first touch input atfirst through the specific touching zone and the functional componentcontinuously performs the specific function even if there is a secondtouch input that follows the first touch input, through either thesecond or the third touching zone that is not the specific touchingzone, as long as there is a continuous touch input through the firsttouching zone from the first to the second touch input with nointermission.

Moreover, the present invention provides a method of controlling anelectronic apparatus through a touch sensor provided with a firsttouching zone that includes at least a second touching zone and a thirdtouching zone, the second and third touching zones being allocated withdifferent functions to be performed by the electronic apparatus, themethod comprising the steps of: determining whether there is a firsttouch input at first through a specific touching zone that is the secondor the third touching zone of the touch sensor; controlling theelectronic apparatus to perform a specific function assigned to thespecific touching zone when it is determined that there is the firsttouch input at first through the specific touching zone; determiningwhether there is a second touch input that follows the first touch inputthrough either the second or the third touching zone that is not thespecific touching zone; and controlling the electronic apparatus tocontinuously perform the specific function even if it is determined thatthere is the second touch input, as long as there is a continuous touchinput through the first touching zone from the first to the second touchinput with no intermission.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an imaging apparatus, a preferredembodiment of electronic apparatus according to the present invention;

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate operations of the imaging apparatus accordingto the present invention, through a touch-panel sensor;

FIG. 3 shows a flow chart explaining an operation of the imagingapparatus according to the present invention, through the touch-panelsensor; and

FIGS. 4A to 4C illustrate a variation of the imaging apparatus accordingto the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A preferred embodiment according to the present invention will bedisclosed with reference to the drawings attached herewith.

Described with reference to a block diagram of FIG. 1 is an imagingapparatus, a preferred embodiment of electronic apparatus according tothe present invention.

In FIG. 1, light from a target object (not shown) is captured by lenses210 and 230 of an optical unit 2. The optical unit 2 is equipped with anaperture 220 between the lenses 210 and 230. Although, only two lenses210 and 230 are shown for brevity, the optical unit 2 is, generally,equipped with multiple lenses.

The light is incident on an imaging device 5, such as CCD, to beconverted into electric pixel signals which are then supplied to an A/Dconverter 6. The pixel signals are converted into digital pixel signalsby the A/D converter 6 and supplied to a video signal processor 7.

On receiving the pixel signals, the video signal processor 7 generatesvideo signals, such as RGB signals, based on the pixel signals, withspecific signal processing. The video signals that have been applied thespecific signal processing are then supplied to a D/A converter 8 and ahuman face detector 9.

The D/A converter 8 converts the video signals into analog video signalsand supplies them to an OSD (On Screen Display) superimposer 11.

The human face detector 9 detects a skin color portion in an imagecarried by the video signals and also detects one or more human facescontained in the image which can be done with a known patternrecognition technique. Then, the detector 9 supplies face detectioninformation to a controller 1.

The controller 1, which may be configured by a single or a plural numberof microprocessors, includes a display controller 101 and an inputprocessor 102.

Connected to the input processor 102 is a touch-panel sensor 13 whichmay be a capacitive touch-panel sensor. When there is a user input, thetouch-panel sensor 13 outputs operational information carried by theuser input to the input processor 102 that applies a specific process tothe operational information, as described later.

The display controller 101 controls an OSD generator 10 in accordancewith the operational information processed by the input processor 102.

The OSD generator 10 generates an OSD signal under control by thedisplay controller 101 and supplies the OSD signal to the OSDsuperimposer 11.

The OSD superimposer 11 superimposes the OSD signal on the video signalssupplied from the D/A converter 8. The video signals superimposed withthe OSD signal are then displayed on a monitor screen 12.

The controller 1 outputs control signals for driving a motor 3 to amotor driver 4 in accordance with the face detection information and/orthe operational information supplied from the human face detector 9 andthe touch-panel sensor 13, respectively.

In response to the control signals, the motor driver 4 drives the motor3 to shift the lenses 210 and 230 and/or adjust the aperture 220 of theoptical unit 2 so that the optical unit 2 can make focusing, zooming andexposure adjustments.

Accordingly, the optical unit 2, the motor 3 and the motor driver 4constitute a zooming functional component. Although the embodimentemploys such an optical zooming functional component, the invention canemploy an electrical or opto-electrical zooming functional component.

The imaging apparatus, an embodiment of electronic apparatus accordingto the present invention, will further be described with reference toFIG. 1 and also FIGS. 2A and 2B.

Shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B are a hinged monitor 60 and a housing 100 ofthe imaging apparatus.

Provided on the monitor 60 are the monitor screen 12 and the touch-panelsensor 13 in the vicinity of the monitor screen 12. The components otherthan the monitor screen 12 and the touch-panel sensor 13 are installedin the housing 100.

In this embodiment, the touch-panel sensor 13 has four touching zones 21to 24, as indicated by double-dashed dotted lines, corresponding tovariable resisters 131 to 134, respectively, shown in FIG. 1.

When a user touches any of the zones 21 to 24 with his or her finger 50,the corresponding variable resister among the resisters 131 to 134varies its resistance due to change in electric charges stored in acapacitor (not shown) to vary a voltage developed thereacross.

The input processor 102 (FIG. 1) detects the change in voltage occurredacross any of the variable resisters 131 to 134 to determine which ofthe zones 21 to 24 is touched by the user with the finger 50.

The monitor screen 12 displays an image 70 (a human) of the targetobject and also OSD guide images 201 to 204 along the touching zones 21to 24, respectively. The touching zones 21 to 24 are allocated withfunctions of the imaging apparatus (an embodiment of electronicapparatus of the present invention). The guide images 201 to 204indicate those functions allocated to the touching zones 21 to 24,respectively, with words (such as shown in FIG. 2A) meaning thefunctions, which may optionally be icons.

In this embodiment, the function allocated to a touching zone 25 thatincludes the touching zones 21 and 22 is a zooming function. Moreover,allocated to the touching zones 21 and 22 are sub-functions of thezooming function, telephoto and wide-angle zooming functions,respectively. Allocated to the touching zones 23 and 24 are a human-facedetecting function and an automatic exposure (AE) function,respectively.

The number of touching zones on the touch-panel sensor 13 and the typesof function to be allocated to the touching zones depend on whatelectronic apparatus is employed within the scope of the presentinvention.

Suppose that the user touches the touching zone 21 (telephoto) with hisor her finger 50 at first. The touch causes the change in voltagedeveloped across the variable resister 131 that corresponds to thetouching zone 21. The input processor 102 of the controller 1 thendetects the change in voltage to determine that the zone 21 is touchedby the finger 50.

Then, the controller 1 sends a control signal for the telephoto zoomingfunction to the motor driver 4. In response to the control signal, themotor driver 4 drives the motor 3 to shift the lenses 210 and 230 tovary the zoom magnification by specific times to the telephoto side.

The controller 1 continuously outputs the control signal for thetelephoto zooming function as long as the zone 21 is being touched bythe finger 50, which makes the zoom magnification larger towards themaximum magnification at a specific speed.

Suppose that the user touches the zone 22 (wide angle) with his or herfinger 50 at first. The touch causes the change in voltage developedacross the variable resister 132 that corresponds to the zone 22. Theinput processor 102 of the controller 1 then detects the change involtage to determine that the zone 22 is touched by the finger 50.

Then, the controller 1 sends a control signal for the wide-angle zoomingfunction to the motor driver 4. In response to the control signal, themotor driver 4 drives the motor 3 to shift the lenses 210 and 230 tovary the zoom magnification by specific times to the wide-angle side.

The controller 1 continuously outputs the control signal for thewide-angle zooming function as long as the zone 22 is being touched bythe finger 50, which makes the zoom magnification smaller towards theminimum magnification at a specific speed.

Suppose that the user touches the zone 23 (human-face detection) withhis or her finger 50 at first. The touch causes the change in voltagedeveloped across the variable resister 133 that corresponds to the zone23. The input processor 102 of the controller 1 then detects the changein voltage to determine that the zone 23 is touched by the finger 50.

Then, the controller 1 commands the human-face detector 9 to start thehuman-face detecting function. The human face detector 9 detects a skincolor portion in an image carried by the video signals sent from thevideo signal processor 7 and also detects the face of the human 70.Then, the detector 9 supplies the face detection information to thecontroller 1.

Then, the controller 1 sends a control signal for focusing on thedetected human face to the motor driver 4. In response to the controlsignal, the motor driver 4 drives the motor 3 to shift the lenses 210and 230 to focus on the detected human face.

When the user touches the zone 23 again with his or her finger 50, thecontroller 1 commands the human-face detector 9 to halt the human-facedetecting function.

Suppose that the user touches the zone 24 (AE) with his or her finger 50at first. The touch causes the change in voltage developed across thevariable resister 134 that corresponds to the zone 24. The inputprocessor 102 of the controller 1 then detects the change in voltage todetermine that the zone 24 is touched by the finger 50.

Then, the controller 1 sends a control signal to the motor driver 4 toadjust the aperture 220 of the optical unit 2 for exposure adjustmentsin accordance with the environments of the target object. In response tothe control signal from the controller 1, the motor driver 4 drives themotor 3 to adjust the aperture 220 for exposure adjustments.

Described next with reference to FIG. 2A and a flowchart shown in FIG. 3is an operation of the imaging apparatus (FIG. 1), the embodiment ofelectronic apparatus according to the present invention, in the casewhere a user intentionally or unintentionally touches the touch-panelsensor 13.

When the imaging apparatus is powered on, the input processor 102 of thecontroller 1 starts a touch-sensor input detection process in step S301.

The input processor 102 determines whether any of the touching zones 23,24 and 25 of the touch-panel sensor 13 is touched by the user with hisor her finger 50 in step S302. If any of the zones 23 to 25 is nottouched by the finger 50 (NO in step S302), the input processor 102continues the input detection process. On the contrary, if it isdetermined that one of the zones 23 to 25 is touched by the finger 50 atfirst, or there is a first touch input (YES in step S302), the processgoes to step S303.

In step S303, the input processor 102 stores zone data indicating thetouched zone 23, 24 or 25 in a memory (not shown) that may be installedin the controller 1 or another component of the imaging apparatus. Thememory is updated when it has already stored zone data.

Moreover, in step S303, the controller 1 controls the operation of theimaging apparatus in accordance with the function assigned to thetouched zone, as described below.

When the zone 21 in the zone 25 is determined as being touched by thefinger 50, the controller 1 performs a control procedure to change thezoom magnification to the telephoto side. On the contrary, when the zone22 in the zone 25 is determined as being touched by the finger 50, thecontroller 1 performs a control procedure to change the zoommagnification to the wide-angle side.

However, if it is the zone 23 that is determined as being touched by thefinger 50 and if the human-face detection function is off at present,the controller 1 starts the human-face detection. Contrary to this, ifit is the zone 23 that is determined as being touched by the finger 50and if the human-face detection function is on at present, thecontroller 1 halts the human-face detection.

Moreover, if it is the zone 24 that is determined as being touched bythe finger 50 and if the automatic exposure adjustments function is offat present, the controller 1 starts the automatic exposure adjustments.Contrary to this, if it is the zone 24 that is determined as beingtouched by the finger 50 and if the automatic exposure adjustmentsfunction is on at present, the controller 1 halts the human-facedetection.

Next, in step S304, the input processor 102 determines whether the userhas released his or her finger 50 from the touch-panel sensor 13. Theprocess returns to step S302 if it is determined that the user hasreleased his or her finger 50 from the touch-panel sensor 13 (YES inStep S304). On the contrary, the process moves to step S305 if it isdetermined that the user has not released his or her finger 50 from thetouch-panel sensor 13 (NO in Step S304).

In step S305, the input processor 102 determines whether the user hasshifted his or her finger 50 from the particular zone that was touchedby the finger 50 at first (the first touch input) to another zone (asecond touch input) on the touch-panel sensor 13, without releasing thefinger 50 from the touch-panel sensor 13. The process returns to stepS304 if it is determined that the user has not shifted his or her finger50 from the particular zone of the touch-panel sensor 13 (NO in StepS305). On the contrary, the process moves to step S306 if it isdetermined that the user has shifted his or her finger 50 from theparticular zone of the touch-panel sensor 13 (YES in Step S305).

In step S306, the input processor 102 accesses the zone data in thememory to determine which of the zones 21 to 24 of the touch-panelsensor 13 was touched by the user with his or her finger 50 at first.

The process moves to step S307 if it is the zone 21 or 22 that wastouched by the finger 50 at first. On the contrary, the process moves tostep S309 if it is the zone 23 or 24 that was touched by the finger 50at first.

In step S309, the input processor 102 replaces the operationalinformation input through the touch-panel sensor 13 from the informationcorresponding to the zone to which the user has shifted his or herfinger 50 to the information corresponding to the zone 23 or 24 the usertouched his or her finger 50 at first. Then, the controller 1 controlsthe operation of the imaging apparatus in accordance with theoperational information corresponding to the zone 23 or 24 even if theuser has shifted his or her finger 50 to another zone, or the controller1 controls the operation of the imaging apparatus so that the imagingapparatus does not operate in accordance with the operationalinformation corresponding to the zone to which the user has shifted hisor her finger 50. The process then returns to step S304.

On the contrary, in step S307, that follows step S306, when it isdetermined that the zone 21 or 22 was touched by the user with his orher finger 50 at first, the input processor 102 determines from whichzone to another on the touch panel 13 the user has shifted his or herfinger 50.

If it is determined that the user has shifted his or her finger 50 fromthe zone 21 to the zone 22, or vice versa, the process returns to stepS303 in which the controller 1 controls the operation of the imagingapparatus in accordance with the zone 21 or 22 the user touches atpresent.

If it is determined that the user has shifted his or her finger 50 fromthe touching zone 21 or 22 to another zone on the touch-panel sensor 13,the process moves to step S308 in which the input processor 102 replacesthe operational information input through the touch-panel sensor 13 fromthe information corresponding to the zone to which the user has shiftedhis or her finger 50 to the information corresponding to the zone 21 or22 the user touched with his or her finger 50 at first. Then, thecontroller 1 controls the operation of the imaging apparatus inaccordance with the operational information corresponding to the zone 21or 22 the user touched with his or her finger 50 at first, or thecontroller 1 controls the operation of the imaging apparatus so that theimaging apparatus continuously operates in accordance with the zone theuser touched with his or her finger 50 at first. Then, the processreturns to step S304.

The finger shift from the touching zone 21 or 22 to another zone in stepS307 includes the shift, such as: from the zone 22 to the zone 23; fromthe zone 21 to the zone 22 via the zone 23; from the zone 22 to the zone23, then to the zone 24; and from the zone 22 to the zone 24, then tothe zone 23.

Accordingly, there are several features in the imaging apparatus, theembodiment of electronic apparatus of the present invention, assummarized below.

When the user touches the zone 21 or 22 of the touch-panel sensor 13 forthe zooming function with his or her finger 50 at first, the imagingapparatus continuously performs the zooming function as long as the useris touching the touch-panel sensor 13 even if he or she shifts his orher finger 50 from the zone 21 or 22 to the zone 23 or 24 that is notrelated to the zooming function.

Not only that, when the user touches the zone 21 (or 22) of the touchpanel 13 for the zooming function with his or her finger 50 at first andthen shifts the finger 50 from the zone 21 (or 22) to the zone 22 (or21) also for the zooming function, the imaging apparatus operates inaccordance with the operational information input from the zone 22 (or21) touched by the user at present, not the zone 21 (or 22) touched atfirst.

Moreover, when the user touches the zone 23 (face detection) or 24(automatic exposure) of the touch panel 13 with his or her finger 50 atfirst, the imaging apparatus performs the face detection or automaticexposure function as long as the user is touching the touch panel 13even if he or she shifts the finger 50 from the zone 23 or 24 to anotherzone, thus misoperation being avoided.

Furthermore, in FIG. 3, when it is determined that the zone 21 or 22 istouched by the user with his or her finger 50 at first (YES in stepS302), the display controller 101 of the controller 1 (FIG. 1) may erasethe OSD guide images 203 and 204 from the touch-panel sensor 13, asshown in FIG. 2B, in step S303.

Described further with respect to FIGS. 4A to 4C is a variation of theimaging apparatus, the embodiment of electronic apparatus of the presentinvention.

As shown in FIG. 4A, the variation of the imaging apparatus is equippedwith a touch-panel sensor 130 with the touching zones 21 to 24 the sameas those shown in FIG. 2A, but arranged in a 2×2 matrix.

Displayed on the monitor screen 12 are the OSD guide images 201 to 204,the same as those shown in FIG. 2A, but arranged in a 2×2 matrix,matched with the arrangements of the touching zones 21 to 24.

The circuit configuration and the operations and functions related tothe touching zones 21 to 24 on the touch-panel sensor 130 in thevariation are the same as those of the embodiment described with respectto FIGS. 1 to 3.

In the variation, when the zone on the touch-panel sensor 130 touched atfirst by the user with his or her finger 50 is the zone 22 (wide angle),the display controller 101 of the controller 1 (FIG. 1) may display awide OSD guide image 212, such as shown in FIG. 4B, instead of the guideimage 202 shown in FIG. 4A, while erasing the guide images 203 and 204.

Moreover, in the variation, when the zone on the touch-panel sensor 130touched at first by the user with his or her finger 50 is the zone 21 or22, the display controller 101 of the controller 1 may display wide OSDguide images 221 and 222, such as shown in FIG. 4C, instead of the guideimages 201 and 202 shown in FIG. 4A, while erasing the guide images 203and 204.

It is further understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoingdescriptions are a preferred embodiment and a variation of the disclosedapparatus and that various changes and modifications may be made in theinvention without departing from the spirit and scope of thereof.

For example, a transparent touch-panel sensor may be provided on themonitor screen 12 in FIGS. 2A and 4A. The touch-panel sensor may betouched by a tool, such as a pen, instead of a finger.

Moreover, the components of the imaging apparatus shown in FIG. 1 may beseparately controlled by several controllers instead of the singlecontroller 1.

As disclosed above, in detail, the present invention provides anelectronic apparatus equipped with a touch sensor and a method ofoperating an electronic apparatus through a touch sensor, preventingmisoperation of the electronic apparatus even if a user unintentionallyshifts his or her finger from a touched zone to another zone on a touchpanel of the touch sensor while he or she is intentionally touching theformer zone to operate the electronic apparatus.

1. An electronic apparatus comprising: a touch sensor provided with afirst touching zone that includes at least a second touching zone and athird touching zone, the second and third touching zones being allocatedwith different functions; at least one functional component to perform aspecific function assigned to a specific touching zone that is thesecond or the third touching zone; a controller to receive a touch inputthrough the first touching zone and control the functional component sothat the functional component performs the specific function when thereis a first touch input at first through the specific touching zone andthe functional component continuously performs the specific functioneven if there is a second touch input that follows the first touchinput, through either the second or the third touching zone that is notthe specific touching zone, as long as there is a continuous touch inputthrough the first touching zone from the first to the second touch inputwith no intermission.
 2. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the second touching zone is the specific touching zone assignedwith the specific function to be performed by the functional component,the second touching zone including a fourth touching zone and a fifthtouching zone allocated with a first function and a second function,respectively, the first and second functions being sub-functions of thespecific function, wherein the controller controls the functionalcomponent so that the functional component performs the first functionwhen there is a third touch input at first through the fourth touchingzone and then the functional component performs the second function whenthere is a fourth touch input that follows the third touch input,through the fifth touching zone as long as there is a continuous touchinput through the first touching zone, from the third to the fourthtouch input with no intermission, whereas the controller controls thefunctional component so that the functional component performs thesecond function when there is a fifth touch input at first through thefifth touching zone and then the functional component performs the firstfunction when there is a sixth touch input that follows the fifth touchinput, through the fourth touching zone as long as there is a continuoustouch input through the first touching zone, from the fifth to the sixthtouch input with no intermission.
 3. The electronic apparatus accordingto claim 1, wherein the electronic apparatus is an imaging apparatusequipped with a zooming functional component having a zooming functionthat is assigned to the second touching zone.
 4. The electronicapparatus according to claim 2, wherein the electronic apparatus is animaging apparatus equipped with a zooming functional component having azooming function that is assigned to the second touching zone, the firstand second functions being telephoto and wide-angle zooming functions,respectively, as the sub-functions of the zooming function.
 5. Theelectronic apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising a monitorscreen, wherein the controller controls the monitor screen to display afirst guide image and a second guide image, the first and second guideimages indicating the functions allocated to the second and thirdtouching zones, respectively.
 6. The electronic apparatus according toclaim 5, wherein when there is the first touch input at first throughthe specific touching zone, the controller erases the first or thesecond guide image from the monitor screen, that indicates the functionassigned to either the second or the third touching zone that is not thespecific touching zone.
 7. The electronic apparatus according to claim5, wherein the touch sensor is provided in the vicinity of the monitorscreen so that the second and third touching zones and the first andsecond guide images are viewed as corresponding to each other.
 8. Amethod of controlling an electronic apparatus through a touch sensorprovided with a first touching zone that includes at least a secondtouching zone and a third touching zone, the second and third touchingzones being allocated with different functions to be performed by theelectronic apparatus, the method comprising the steps of: determiningwhether there is a first touch input at first through a specifictouching zone that is the second or the third touching zone of the touchsensor; controlling the electronic apparatus to perform a specificfunction assigned to the specific touching zone when it is determinedthat there is the first touch input at first through the specifictouching zone; determining whether there is a second touch input thatfollows the first touch input through either the second or the thirdtouching zone that is not the specific touching zone; and controllingthe electronic apparatus to continuously perform the specific functioneven if it is determined that there is the second touch input, as longas there is a continuous touch input through the first touching zonefrom the first to the second touch input with no intermission.
 9. Themethod according to claim 8, wherein the second touching zone is thespecific touching zone assigned with the specific function to beperformed by the electronic apparatus, the second touching zoneincluding a fourth touching zone and a fifth touching zone allocatedwith a first function and a second function, respectively, the first andsecond functions being sub-functions of the specific function, themethod further comprising: determining whether there is a third touchinput at first through the fourth touching zone and then a fourth touchinput that follows the third touch input, through the fifth touchingzone, with no intermission between the third and the fourth touch input,or whether there is a fifth touch input at first through the fifthtouching zone and then a sixth touch input that follows the fifth touchinput, through the fourth touching zone, with no intermission betweenthe fifth and the sixth touch input; and controlling the electronicapparatus to perform the first function assigned to the fourth touchingzone when it is determined that there is the third touch input at firstthrough the fourth touching zone and then perform the second functionassigned to the fifth touching zone when it is determined that there isthe fourth touch input that follows the third touch input, through thefifth touching zone, with no intermission between the third and thefourth touch input, or perform the second function assigned to the fifthtouching zone when it is determined that there is the fifth touch inputat first through the fifth touching zone and then perform the firstfunction assigned to the fourth touching zone when it is determined thatthere is the sixth touch input that follows the fifth touch input,through the fourth touching zone, with no intermission between the fifthand the sixth touch input.
 10. The method according to claim 8, whereinthe electronic apparatus is an imaging apparatus having a zoomingfunction that is the specific function and assigned to the secondtouching zone that is the specific touching zone, the electronicapparatus being controlled to perform the zooming function when it isdetermined that there is the first touch input at first through thesecond touching zone.
 11. The method according to claim 9, wherein theelectronic apparatus is an imaging apparatus having a zooming functionthat is the specific function and assigned to the second touching zonethat is the specific touching zone, the first and second functions beingtelephoto and wide-angle zooming functions, respectively, as thesub-functions of the zooming function, the electronic apparatus beingcontrolled to perform the telephoto zooming function assigned to thefourth touching zone when it is determined that there is the third touchinput at first through the fourth touching zone and then perform thewide-angle zooming function assigned to the fifth touching zone when itis determined that there is the fourth touch input that follows thethird touch input, through the fifth touching zone, with no intermissionbetween the third and the fourth touch input, or perform the wide-anglezooming function assigned to the fifth touching zone when it isdetermined that there is the fifth touch input at first through thefifth touching zone and then perform the telephoto zooming functionassigned to the fourth touching zone when it is determined that there isthe sixth touch input that follows the fifth touch input, through thefourth touching zone, with no intermission between the fifth and thesixth touch input.
 12. The method according to claim 8, wherein theelectronic apparatus is equipped with a monitor screen, the methodfurther comprising the step of displaying a first guide image and asecond guide image on the monitor screen, the first and second guideimages indicating the functions allocated to the second and thirdtouching zones respectively.
 13. The method according to claim 12further comprising the step of erasing the first or the second guideimage from the monitor screen, that indicates the function assigned toeither the second or the third touching zone that is not the specifictouching zone.
 14. The electronic apparatus according to claim 12,further comprising the step of displaying the first and second guideimages on the monitor screen as being in the vicinity of the second andthird touching zones of the touch sensor so that the first and secondguide images and the second and third touching zones are viewed ascorresponding to each other.